The bill allocates $2 million more from the state general fund to the judicial branch. Chief Justice Lawton Nuss has said that more than $8 million would be needed.

The high court said in a statement Friday that measure “weakens the centralized authority of the Kansas unified court system in exchange for money to pay our employees and keep courts open. And the money it provides still may fall short of even doing that.”

Under the new law, the chief judges of individual district courts also will have the authority to decide how to spend their budgets.